//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Trainwreck // Story: Old Mare Luna // by Leondude //------------------------------// Discord stared in horror at the content within Grogar's box. It looked like Fluttershy but there was no life to be found. Instead, she was perpetually frozen in pain and terror. Gone was the smooth yellow coat and pink mane she had, replaced with burnt flesh and darkened wisps. Her beautiful blue eyes were gone too, with nothing to fill them in except for a small puddle of pus and crust that almost looked like teardrops. Her wings were all shrivelled up as well, a far cry from the lovely pair of wings Discord so admired. Discord just knelt down, his mind processing what he just saw. How could fate be cruel enough to take the one pony who saw the good in him that even he didn't see? Suddenly, he heard hoofsteps coming from behind him. "What's wrong, uncle Discord?" a young female voice said. Discord turned around and noticed that Flurry Heart was no longer the little filly he once knew. He knew he tried his best to look after Flurry but, in his mind, he always pictured her as being forever young. Did the Elements' disappearance mess him up so bad that he couldn't even remember the time he spent with Flurry Heart? He then turned back to Grogar, who was wearing a wicked smile on his face. "Ah, so the rumours are true. An alicorn did live. I was right to come here after all," Grogar said. Discord glared at Grogar, not liking what Grogar was implying. "Here's the deal, Discord. You hand over the princess and I will bring back your beloved Fluttershy. Deal?" "And why should I trust you?" Discord crossed his arms. "Because it was I who brought King Sombra back, and it was I who cast him back into oblivion when he tried to challenge me." "Two words: No. Deal." And with that, Discord slammed the door in Grogar's face. Grumbling under his breath, Grogar opened up a portal back to his castle in Canterlot. "You'll come around eventually, Discord," Grogar said "I wouldn't be leaving you alive if you didn't. You may be a lord of chaos, but I am the Father of Monsters." As soon as Grogar left and the portal closed, Flurry Heart looked at the front-door before looking at Discord. "Who was that?" she asked. "Nopony much. Just a travelling merchant," Discord said harshly. Discord checked out the window to see if Grogar has left. When he had done that, he turned to Flurry Heart to ask her a simple request. "Flurry Heart, could you step outside for a moment? Uncle Discord needs to do some home redecorating." Seeing no reason not to, Flurry Heart complied. She stepped outside of the house as Discord closed the door behind. What followed were the sounds of furniture being thrown out the windows and expensive china being smashed to pieces as Discord screamed in frustration. Flurry Heart looked through one of the broken windows in shock. While Discord has lost his temper a few times, never had she ever seen him this angry before. Discord then knelt for a moment, panting. He then noticed Flurry Heart staring through one of the broken windows. And with a quick snap of his fingers, everything became the way it was before Discord smashed everything up. He then quickly opened the door for Flurry Heart, pretending he didn't just have a meltdown. As time passed, Discord found it increasingly hard to sleep. Every time he lay in bed at Chaosville's nominal nighttime, his mind was plagued by horrific visions of what was once Fluttershy crying out to him, repeating the one question Discord didn't know the answer to: "Why didn't you save me?" Centuries have passed by like leaves in the wind. Discord had tried asking any other necromancers he could find to help him bring Fluttershy back, but they either refused or their attempts at bringing her back ended in failure. Soon enough, he fell into a deep depression and, when Flurry Heart was proving too much of a hassle, decided to give her up for adoption. In the present, Luna and Discord had finally made their way to the train station, in which they bought their tickets and sat patiently as they waited for their train to arrive. "How did you meet Praiseworth and her family?" Luna asked, attempting to make small talk with Discord to pass the time. "Simple. I set up my own marriage counselling office within Manehattan. Since they were visiting relatives there, they noticed the sign on the building where my office is that said 'Dr. Iscod, PhD in Marriage Counselling', so they walked into my office and talked about their problems. Mainly, it was that Settler was something of a scoundrel and a deadbeat. Since I've been there, I gave him some pointers about how to be a better pony over some ciders. Well, that and I gave up Flurry Heart for adoption and we can both agree that he's been a better person ever since having somepony else to look after." "I admit, I'm surprised you would voluntarily help out other ponies," Luna said. "Well, Fluttershy makes it look so easy and...well, since she's...no longer with us, I thought I'd help out. I've also done animal care. Although I can assure you that having drinks with a bunny rabbit is not the wisest idea I ever had." Discord chuckled lightly before giving a mournful sigh. "Anyway, what about you and that unicorn stallion who opened the door for me?" Discord asked to change the subject. "How did you two meet?" "He was a native from Canterlot who wanted to move somewhere a little quieter," Luna said. "I don't know about that. Ever since the bad guys took over, everypony's been quieter." "He was trying to move a cart of rocks up a mountain and I helped him with it. We then made some small-talk and, after going to a place he knew that made the best wine bits can buy, we talked about our interests and misfortunes and...Well...One thing led to another, and-" Luna was suddenly interrupted by the roar of a steam whistle as a train pulled into the station. "All aboard!" the conductor shouted. The Friendship Express has arrived and, while the paint has worn off and the colours are darker than they used to be, it was still the same old engine it was five hundred years ago. Luna and Discord immediately made their way onto the train, flashing their tickets at the conductor as they boarded.  The train made its way to Baltimare, until, underneath all of the passengers, the train began to shudder violently. Ponies near the windows gawked and screamed as cracks began to open up in the earth. "Well that can't be good," Discord said, his eyes glued to the window.  Suddenly,  the train dropped off into a pit of lava where the train track used to be with a crash and the rending of steel. Everypony on board immediately fell unconscious from the impact. Two hours passed before Luna woke up within the sinking wreckage of the train. She lighted up her horn and jumped out of a broken window of one of the carriages before galloping to the top of the wreckage. "Discord?!" Luna shouted. "Are you okay?!" She then heard growling noises and looked down to where they were coming from. From there, she could see lava demons looting the charred corpses from other ponies that were on the train. "It's okay!" Discord said. "I'm over here!". Luna turned around to see Discord sitting on a big rock that was also sinking rapidly into the lava. Discord then quickly hopped onto Luna's back and, seeing no other option, Luna flew out of the lava pit with the lava demons climbing onto one another in an attempt to grab her and Discord. They then landed near Baltimare, hoping nopony else saw Luna flying. "I just noticed something," Discord said. "The train tracks go to Appleloosa as well. We could have waited for the train to Dodge City instead of going to Baltimare." Luna telekinetically lifted Discord off of her back, placed him right next to her, turned around and smacked him hard in his jaw. "I may have deserved that," Discord said in the same disoriented tone as he did the last time he was slapped that hard.